Zythos Bierfestival 2015

Years ago, when the festival was still held in Sint-Niklaas, I had already atended the festival. I had liked it for it offered a direct contact between brewers of all types of beer and of all size of installation and its – potential - customers, it was great value and people could get there easily without the need to use their proper transport, but one could tell that the event was growing beyond Sint-Niklaas´capacities. 

Since a number of editions, the festival is held in Belgium´s unofficial beer capital, Louvain. Louvain is not only the home town of Stella Artois and Interbrew (now AB-Inbev), Belgium´s major industrial brewer, it is also the capital of Belgium´s most diversified beer province (lambiek and witbier have their origins here, and it also has its more than fair share of producers of spéciale belge, abbey beers etc.), it even houses the oldest brewpub in the country, Domus. …And it´s my home town as well ;-)

Nowadays, the festival is the start of the city´s (and province´s) beer month. A lot of activities are organised, like beer tastings, beer-food pairings, beer walks and also one can visit most of the microbreweries in the area. Moreover, at the end of April and the beginning of May at the end of the lambiek brewing season, the lambiek brewers and –stekers tend to organise all sort of events as well (more in another post shortly). The beer month ends this year at the end of May with another smaller scale festival, the Leuven Innovation Beer Festival organised by Hof ten Dormaal in the installations of the original site of Stella Artois, namely Den Hoorn. About 15 of the most innovative craft brewers from all around the world (but mainly Europe) will be presenting beers of theirs. 

This year I had planned to be at my parents´ place at the end of April, so I travelled a few days before and attended the festival. Although it can be fun to attend a festival in large groups, I prefer to go in small groups of max 3, in order to avoid practical problems (not being able to stand all together in the crowd, to hear what the others have to say, less occasion to talk to the brewers or to make contact with other festival goers). 

On Saturday, I went with an old friend of mine and the Brabanthal was packed. We queued at some places (to pay for the starters pack, to go to the toilet, to have some food), but we deliberately went to stalls where I didn´t know (well enough) the beer(s), and where we could easily get to the counter. As the festival has about 100 stalls, this is certainly no problematic task. Although some beers we tasted weren´t really to our liking (and in one case, that of Brouwerij Weldebrouck, I thought the beers served weren´t “ready” yet), most were solid. My personal top3 of the day, in no specific order whatsoever : La Grognarde,  a blonde hoppy and fresh beer of 5,5% brewed by Brasserie Sainte-Hélène in Virton – Schuppenboer, a balanced tripel of 8,5% from Hobbybrouwerij Het Nest brewed at Brouwerij Anders in Zandhoven – Estivale, a very refreshing blonde beer of 5,2% brewed by Brasserie Artisanale de Rulles in Rulles. I must admit that in order to call it a day at the festival I had an Oude Quetsche Tilquin à l´ancienne, which I didn´t consider when writing down my top3. 

  

On Sunday, through circumstances (another friend who would ´ve come along finally couldn´t because of a close relative passing away) I went on my own, after having followed the cycling classic of Liège-Bastogne-Liège on TV (once a Belgian, always a Belgian indeed, not only when it concerns beers!) and I must say, it was a lovely experience : with the festival nearing its end, one could feel the sigh of relief being taken by a lot of volunteers that it had been a success, as well as the brewers being more relaxed to have a chat about their beers. As far as the brewers of Flemish-Brabant were concerned, I had the impression that quite a few had been busy on Saturday at their brewery to show people the installations, while they were now on duty at the festival stall. My personal top3 of the day (again in no particular order) : Amitié, a hoppy almost spicy IPA of 7,0% from Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal brewed at Brouwerij De Dochter van de Korenaar in Baarle-Hertog (waiting for the brewing activities to restart at HtD after the fire of January) – Obelis 2015, a spicy saison with a dry aftertaste brewed by De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren – Triest IPA Dry Hopping, a balanced IPA with mosaic dry hopping of 7,0% brewed by Brouwerij Den Triest in Kapelle-op-den-Bos. Also this day, I ended the festival with a sure value, this time a Framboise by Geuzestekerij De Cam.

 

Looking back at this edition of the festival as another visitor, I can say that the reasons for which I had liked the festival when it was still held at Sint-Niklaas, are still valid. Although the Brabanthal isn´t located in the centre of Louvain, there were free regular (every 10-15 minutes or so) shuttle buses to the railway station (and centre) of Louvain, where the party could go on, considering the many bars and restaurants. The festival is still really great value and details like a very detailed festival brochure or the fact that you can hand the festival glass in at the end of the day to get a full refund are well appreciated. 

For a more in-depth evaluation I can recommend the one given in the blog Belgian Smaak. Don´t forget to listen to the opinion of Zythos´president. What he says about the synergy between big and small brewers is very interesting, if you ask me…and in the nowadays boom of craft beers we tend to forget this. http://www.belgiansmaak.com/zythos-beer-festival/

Other links : www.zdf.be – www.leuvenbierstad.be – www.verliefdopvlaamsbrabant.be – www.innovationbeerfestival.be